Thoughts, reflections, and whimsies as I experience life

Archive for the month “March, 2013”

I know. I know it’s been over two months since I posted, and even though the last two months have been crazy, that’s no excuse.

I took a hiatus from writing these last couple of months, and now I’m going to try to get back into it. It’s just that whenever I read a particularly good novel (Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Boys, for example), instead of feeling motivated to finish my WIP, I feel incompetent. I feel like I’ll never be good enough, so why bother trying?

But that’s not the way I should think. I need to remember that each published novel was at some point a messy rough draft, so it’s okay that mine is, too. I have to learn to bury the perfectionist in me that wants to weave magical phrases and metaphors the first time around, or my inner editor that wants to keep rereading (and mentally criticizing) what I’ve written thus far. I have to accept my work as it is–a rough draft–and realize that it will improve with each new round of edits.

Do any of you have tips for how to stay motivated and slay that inner editor/perfectionist?